


Inevitable

by The_Winter_Writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don’t copy to another site, Established Relationship, Hurt Tony, M/M, Magic, Protective Loki (Marvel), Relationship Reveal, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 18:42:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18834490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Winter_Writer/pseuds/The_Winter_Writer
Summary: Finding out was always inevitable. Nothing remained a secret no matter how deeply and hopelessly you wished it would. Tony had learned that fact early and he'd learned it the hard way. The real question washowwould they find out?





	Inevitable

**Author's Note:**

> So...life got in the way and this fic has been sitting on my laptop for far too long. Hopefully things will slow up and I can start posting with a bit more regularity.
> 
> I'm a little rusty but, hopefully, you all enjoy this little fic.

There were a million ways it could have been revealed. Probably more than a million because it was Loki and he was, after all, the God of Mischief and in a relationship with Tony Stark—it might be closer to a billion or two. And Tony had thought about it, in the still moments when his mind wasn’t racing with thoughts of everything else, like he thought about far too many things.

How would they find out?

Finding out was _always_ inevitable. Tony had learned that fact early and he’d learned it the hard way—at the hand of Howard and the unforgiving masses constantly watching him. Nothing remained a secret no matter how deeply and hopelessly you wished it.

The main way he’d imagined it featured the two of them caught with their pants down or completely off while they were indulging in grappling, rough and satisfying sex. He’d imagined scandalous expressions, screaming and threats before Shield making an _attempt_ to invade his Tower to arrest the both of them—not that Loki’s magic, woven throughout the Tower and Tony’s own numerous defenses, would _allow_ that. Tony always, kind of, figured the big reveal would involve sex and a compromising position that couldn’t be spun into anything else.

That seemed to be the story of his very public life. Caught in a compromising situation and splashed all over the place by greedy, meddlesome people far too interested in his life.

It didn’t happen like that.

Instead of pleasure, something he would have far preferred if he’d had the choice, the moment was filled with agony—it was filled with blinding, breathtaking pain. He had thrown himself in front of a hit that Natasha couldn’t afford to take, not armor-less with her back turned and far too breakable for the strength in her soul, and his world had _burned_ with the kind of pain that Tony remembered in his darkest moments. It was pain that forced memories to the surface from the nightmare he had experienced in Afghanistan and from the moment of Stane stealing his arc reactor.

A world ending kind of pain he wouldn’t wish on anyone—well anyone except the asshole who attacked Natasha’s unprotected back and Hammer because that fucking weasel deserved it after his idiocy almost resulted in Pepper being blown up.

Jarvis was a worried voice in his ear, pleading with him to answer, as his screen flashed and flared with red warnings. The team was screaming across the comms and Tony’s mind was begging, silently pleading with whoever was listening, for the pain to _stop_. He needed it to stop or Tony was sure he’d lose himself to the pain, to the unbearable agony, that was twisting and twining through his very soul in an unforgiving way.

Something cool, soothing and achingly _familiar_ wrapped around him. It sunk into his veins, raced along his nerves and viciously pushed the pain away until Tony was sobbing with relief instead of agony. His cheeks were flushed and wet with tears. His throat burned from the screaming he hoped no one had heard. He hoped Jarvis had blocked the others from hearing it over the comms.

Slowly, slowly he started to become aware of the world outside of the agony he’d been trapped in. It took him far too long to realize his armor was _gone_ and he was being _cradled_ in the arms of a worried but furious and wrathful god.

Cool fingers brushed over his forehead, where Tony knew he was likely still bleeding from an earlier hit, while the hold on him remained soft and caring—Loki was holding him as though he were the most precious being in all of existence. Loki’s magic soothed, healed and protected as the sounds of screaming— _shrieking in agony_ his exhausted mind supplied—filled the air as Loki’s eyes _glowed_ with power.

A blessing, bathed in mischief and chaos and brilliant magic, sunk into him as he blinked up at Loki.

“ _Anthony_.” And it’s the tone, the tone that Tony _knows_ because he’s used it himself, that lets him know this _isn’t_ something easily tossed aside or lost to time—not for Loki and it hasn’t been for Tony a few months into their mutually pleasurable _thing_ that had been going on for _years_ now. Their thing that now seemed a lot longer-lived than Tony had ever imagined possible. He was surprisingly fine, calm, when he’d always expected this kind of realization would send him running for the hills.

The shrieking was still piercing the air, increasing somehow, as Loki’s magic continued to thread itself through him and Tony could _feel_ Loki’s emotions practically saturating it.

In the distance he could hear shouting, it wasn’t pain filled like the shrieking that seemed never-ending, and that’s when Tony realized that Loki’s magic had somehow formed a barrier between the outside world and them. His armor was in pieces around them, scattered but still relatively whole, and his team was desperately trying to get to him—except for Thor. Tony could see realization, he could see _understanding_ and _knowing_ , in a very ancient looking gaze directed at the two of them.

He wasn’t surprised, in a distant and fuzzy way, that Thor recognized the meaning of Loki’s actions so quickly. They were brothers, had been brothers for over a thousand years, and if anyone knew Loki it would be Thor. It probably helped that Thor had a very breakable mortal of his very own. At least, if everything went to Hell, he’d have the God of Thunder in their corner.

“The jig is up.” His voice was wrecked, scratchy and sore, from screaming. Tony winced but long, careful fingers brushed against his throat and magic soothed once more. “Thunderstruck knows.” He sounded a bit closer to normal as his vocal cords and his poor, abused throat were healed.

The god didn’t really react. Loki was still looking off to the side, gaze hard and furious as the shrieking hit a pitch Tony hadn’t known was humanly possible, but when he looked down at Tony once more his expression was full of concern, fondness and something far deeper—the deadliest force in the universe.

_Love_

Something giddy, bright and blinding and full of overwhelming happiness, swelled inside of him despite the lingering memory of pain. He felt so light Tony was surprised he wasn’t floating and he was sure the look on his face was ridiculous with the pure, brilliant happiness burning inside of him. Tony reached up, curled his fingers at the nape of Loki’s neck, before he brought their lips together in a kiss. There was only a second, only a short little beat of a moment, where Loki was frozen and then Tony was being easily—but very carefully—hauled up so Loki could get better leverage.

It made his head spin with a rush he’d so rarely felt outside of flying and free-falling. Loki broke the kiss, their foreheads pressed together, as gorgeous green eyes stared into his own. “You are eating an Apple if I have to restrain you and shove it down your throat.” A thumb brushed against his cheek, idly moving back and forth, as magic continued to lazily wind through him. “I will not—”

“Ok, Lo.”

Loki’s mouth snapped shut, surprise and joy warring with each other, before Tony was hauled more firmly into Loki’s arms. The shouting from his teammates had started up once more but Tony didn’t care, not right now, as one of Loki’s hands moved and something flashed. The shrieking abruptly cut off and Tony knew, though he wasn’t going to look, that Loki had flung a dagger at their opponent.

That was _not_ going to help with his teammates or Shield. It really, really was not going to help their case at all but Tony couldn’t be bothered to care at the moment. He’d deal with it later—much later.

Magic coiled around his armor, pulsing and glowing, before his suit disappeared and Loki’s magic wrapped firmly around the two of them as Loki shifted them through space—pulling them along pathways Tony knew were as familiar to the god as Jarvis’s coding was to Tony. They appeared in a room that Tony had only been in a handful of times. Green dominated the space along with old texts, scrolls, artifacts Tony _knew_ possessed power or magic and something that was _glowing_ as it idly twisted through the air. The glowing thing was new and, despite his recent experience, he itched to reach out and _touch_.

Curiosity was constantly threatening to finish what countless others had failed to do over the years.

He ended up being deposited on the edge of Loki’s bed but instead of clothing ending up banished across the room or strewn across the floor in a hasty scramble to reach skin the god strode off leaving him alone. Tony reached up to touch his forehead to feel smooth, healed skin. There wasn’t a single ache. Even the dull ache he’d had since he smashed his hand earlier working on his armor was gone. He turned his hand, looking for the smallest sign of the earlier injury, as he carefully didn’t think about what had just happened.

The cat was out of the bag and he wouldn’t regret his relationship with Loki—not when he’d realized the depth of his own feelings and witnessed them reflected back at him in brilliant green eyes.

“I will _not_ lose you to a pathetic excuse for a Midgardian _sorcerer_ or something as ridiculous as _mortality_.” the word sorcerer was practically spat with contempt and disgust as Tony looked up at Loki. Only Loki could possibly make something so common, something Tony had always believed was simply inevitable, as mortality sound like a disgusting disease that needed to be cured. “ _Eat all of it_.” A bright, shiny Golden Apple rested in the palm of Loki’s hand. He knew what this meant, knew what Loki was saying without words, as the Apple was placed in his hand.

Tony’s fingers curled around the Apple, thumb idly stroking the smooth surface, as he looked up. Despite everything, the surety that Loki had spoken with and the demand in the god’s voice, he could see desperation and insecurity filling Loki’s expressive eyes.

It was selfish, he knew that’s what everyone would say when they found out, but that didn’t stop him. He locked eyes with Loki and took his first bite as relief filled Loki’s face. The god leaned down to brush his lips against his forehead, fingers curling against him as Loki shifted and settled down. It was one of the best things he’d ever tasted, bright and rich and sweet, as warmth and power rushed through him with every bite. He ate every single piece, until only the juice clinging to his fingers was left, before Loki was yanking him up into a kiss that stole his breath and made his head spin.

He would deal with the fall-out _later_. Right now he had a very happy god enthusiastically kissing him and talented fingers tugging at his clothing.

**Author's Note:**

> There was going to be smut but it just didn't _fit_. I'm not completely happy with this, I don't think I ever am when I post something, but I'm crossing my fingers that it was a somewhat enjoyable one-shot. 
> 
> A secret relationship reveal with a little hurt, some protective rage and, of course, it ends on sweet/happy note. I'll try to get something a little more substantial posted soon. I also need to write some Endgame fix-its (seriously...I just want to drown myself in fix-its).
> 
>  
> 
> Please leave a comment. I would love to hear what you thought!
> 
>  
> 
> [My Tumblr](http://the-winter-writer.tumblr.com)


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